Larry Negrich

Director, Business Development, TXT Retail

Larry brings over 20 years of enterprise software experience in roles including marketing, business development, sales and product development. Larry’s professional background includes stints at leading enterprise software companies including TXT Retail, Microsoft, JDA, Retek, EDS and Avnet. Larry began his professional career as an application developer for the Barros Research Institute.

Larry received his undergraduate degree in Journalism with a specialization in Computer Engineering from Michigan State University.

This is like taking the generic equivalent of a prescription medicine. It is so very close to an actual, thoughtful gift that nobody can really tell the difference. Somewhere in the formula it is just a small fraction different than a true gift. At the center it has all of the same things a gift possesses. Mostly it will alleviate the issue of gift giving, but it isn’t really as good, is it? Yes, it solves a problem and I'm all about using technology to solve problems — but I would prefer the original formula when possible.

In women’s fast fashion, speed is critically important because of the enormous influence of social media. Instagram’s capabilities to spread a trend like wildfire is one example. It’s important for retailers to have complete understanding of the full sales cycle of each product. Layering product sales cycles to avoid dips will keep sales consistent, fashion fresh, and trends stoking sales.

For a singular ad, Meijer’s is creative, engaging and holiday-focused. What a Christmas ad should be. The TJX spot does a good job of delivering a powerful message: no coupons, always savings. Both of these spots are good — I give Meijer’s a slight edge as it delivers the emotion and flavor of the holiday.

That would seem to be a natural evolution. Once a user asks what are the top 10 cat videos of all time, the next request will likely be, “Show me.” Then Alexa, send this to 10 friends. Now put this into a watch and you really have a useful device.

Deliver a better total customer experience and the world will beat a path to your door, if you are also well priced and in convenient locations. There is a certain amount of value in the “local” characteristic to a certain group of people and for certain product segments but I would advise any retailer not to lean too heavily on local without also offering other significant differentiators. Retailers dealing in commodity products make leveraging local even more difficult to pull off.

That is the basic holiday retail challenge: understand customer demand given an array of dynamics factors and be prepared to meet that demand with enough stock and service (in all forms). It’s difficult for retailers to match supply to demand, but the solutions are available to help this process. The use of advanced planning, supply chain and forecasting systems helps them get closer to the solution.I also think retailers need to coordinate the marketing and merchandising plans in order to align on customer expectations. A featured, advertised product requires absolute on-shelf availability, so don’t disappoint or you won’t be forgiven soon. Coordination goes a long way.So how about this for a general statement: I expect smart retailers to meet demand and do just fine and bad retailers to not recognize the signals and to do poorly, and in post-holiday analysis to blame failure on UPS, the docks, consumers, politics, weather, etc.

Walmart’s research must show they have a line-wait perception issue. Just planted the seed in my mind that lines must be terrible, so why visit there? Kmart — beyond showing it has a pulse — as pointed out by others, didn’t seem very on point for just about anything. The V/O brings attention to layaway promotion. A bit flat, predictable. Grudgingly give this round to Walmart.

Speed is an important part of the process and any technology that can improve that facet of service is a welcomed innovation. But as with all facets of service it’s the complete experience that is most important. In my personal experience, I see a lot of retailers better with speed but poor in overall experience -- comfort, efficiency, scent, entertainment, etc. Pre-order and expedited shipping need a solution in the single-line format. There are lots of high-tech ways to pre-order but the final 25 feet from the store to the car is a challenge. I’m thinking parking lot drones.

Services require people, labor, with a smaller margin to Amazon. Better for the company to find the next AWS to support its retail habit. Prime and Alexa are great ways for Amazon to ingratiate itself into the fabric of customer lives with big margin. A turn to services offerings is not something that will increase the profit margin for Amazon, so I’m surprised to see it as an offering.

For CVS it could make sense especially at stores where drive-thru prescriptions are offered. Lots of sick people visit to solely pick up prescriptions — nobody wants to go inside the store or make additional stops to pick up a few items when they’re sick or have a sick person in the car. Curb side would be a great benefit in these times and a good way to increase the basket size. Good service, good business — everyone wins.

Having 80,000 pounds of cargo roaring down expressways across North America in driverless trucks is something that should require long test periods to guarantee roadway safety. On the jobs front, this certainly will have an effect on jobs. I would expect the Teamsters and other organizations representing truck drivers to get involved and address this issue to protect its members in the short- and long-term.

I visit In-N-Out Burger because I love a single item; the burger. I visit McDonald's because of a time crunch/total convenience. McDonald's needs an item or two that will compel visitors during each serving period. Without the introduction of some compelling items, McDonald's is just the brand with market share waiting for competitors to eat their lunch. (I had to :).)

Google has the money. Just about any venture it enters could lose vast amounts of money for years and still have almost no impact on its bottom line. But is there any advantage to be derived by Google to become a retailer over the long-term? Google can already directly touch most consumers to promote itself, its products, its ideas. It can conduct long-term research projects through any number of methods and ventures, including pop-up stores. As showcases, test labs, and PR devices some retail visibility makes sense. However, retail is hard and a long-term presence could have as much negative impact on its brand as positive. I don’t see a time when Google will want to be the anchor store at Westgate mall.